Love and Friendship
by Aklee
Summary: A series of one-shots about Sora and Yamato's relationship at various ages.
1. Lyrics

**Author's Note**: This has the most awful title that needs to be changed. (**EDIT:** title changed).

* * *

**AGE: 16 years old.**

"But I'm terrible at it."

"You don't really know that if you don't try."

"I don't even understand why you ask me to do this."

"C'mon, it's easy. Just tell me what you're feeling right now."

"Umm... slightly hungry?"

Yamato grinned at her. "That's not what I meant."

"Well, I'm feeling kind of stupid."

"Good. What else?"

_Good? _Sora thought._ What was good about that?_

"Uhh... and embarrassed because you're way better at this than I am and you're still making me do it."

Yamato smiled. _He makes me feel incredibly self-conscious_, he scribbled down on his notepad.

"That's not what I said!" Sora cried.

"But it's what you _implied_," Yamato responded cheekily.

"Sometimes I can't decide between hitting him or strangling him because he's so impossible to deal with," Sora retorted.

_I'm always so overwhelmed whenever he's around that I don't how to act, _Yamato added.

"What? That's not –" Sora stopped when he started to note down something else.

_I can't deny what I feel for him_, he wrote.

"He needs to come back down to Earth." It didn't escape Sora's notice that Yamato had somehow managed to switch this from a general discussion about her feelings to one that was starting to focus dangerously on her emotions regarding a certain blond.

_He's my whole world._

Sora rolled her eyes. "How is this supposed to be of any help again?"

Yamato shrugged. "Sometimes when I get stuck at writing, it's useful to try and come up with lyrics with someone else."

"But what we have so far is terrible!"

"I'm only writing down what you're telling me," Yamato replied innocently, although the corners of his lips twitched.

"You said you were going to improve it. But you're deliberately making it sound worse."

"You're not giving me a lot to work with, Sora Takenouchi."

Sora resisted the urge to smack his stupid, smug face with a cushion.

"What else?"

"He's an idiot."

Yamato laughed.

"And he only _thinks_ that he's cute."

"Mhm."

"But he's not."

"Right."

"He isn't... he's just..."

"What?"

"An idiot."

"I'm sure there's more to him than that."

"Not really."

"His defining characteristic is how much of an idiot he is?"

"Yes..." Sora hesitated. "I suppose... sometimes, he can be incredibly sweet too."

"Ahh... if we dig deep enough we might find some remnants of a personality."

Sora giggled.

"This is good."

"And when he gets flustered and awkward, it's adorable."

"Mhm."

"And I really... I kind of... well..."

Sora stopped when she realised that Yamato's smirk had been getting wider and wider as she spoke. She also noticed that he hadn't written anything down for a while.

"This is all a trick." She narrowed her eyes at him and tried to ignore the self-conscious blush that was spreading up her neck.

Yamato chuckled. "I really am stuck, Sora. And this is helping."

"I bet it is," she grumbled.

Yamato gave her a boyish smile and Sora hated that he could make her melt so easily. _Nope, not this time._

"Who said I was even talking about you anyway?"

"I certainly didn't," Yamato teased and Sora turned redder.

"Well, just so you know, I was thinking about this other guy the whole time."

"Right."

"This other guy who makes my heart race and my world spin and who's everything that I've ever wanted."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"I see."

"What are you writing now?" she asked in an exasperated tone when he turned the sketch pad away from her.

"Nothing. Go on."

Sora crossed her arms. "This _other _guy isn't conceited or vain. And he thinks of others before himself and doesn't have ridiculous mood swings where he's erratic one minute and sulking the next. He's polite and humble. And he's a total gentleman."

"Basically, he's a bore."

"_No_. He's perfect."

"Right."

"Much better than the first guy I dated."

"So it seems."

Sora rolled her eyes when he wrote that down too.

Sora swallowed. "And I can handle this guy. I don't lose my cool whenever he's around. And he doesn't take up so much space in my head that I become so lost and completely... _distracted.._."

Yamato stilled for a moment as he stared at her. Then it was like the right switch had been turned on in his brain because he grabbed his notepad and started scribbling furiously.

"When I'm with him..."

Sora trailed off when she realised that Yamato was in a world of his own. She smiled at his intense look of concentration and the way he impatiently brushed his hair out of his eyes as his hand flew across the page. He paused once or twice to glare at the carpet (obviously deep in thought) or to cross out a line or two. Before long, he had filled almost the entire page.

Sora was content to just watch him for the next few minutes. When his hair fell over his forehead again, she reached up to brush it back.

Yamato looked up and blinked at the contact. Then his eyes softened slightly as he registered her.

"Can I see?" Sora asked.

Yamato smiled. "I'll show you when I've finished it."

"But, this is my song," she pointed out.

"Your song? What you gave me is that you're hungry, want to smack me and have fallen for another guy. The beginnings of profound song lyrics right there," he teased.

"You promised you wouldn't make fun if I helped!"

Yamato laughed. And then he had to duck and move out of the way fairly quickly as Sora grabbed the nearest cushion and started beating him with it. He managed to find a cushion of his own but his hits were wild and uncoordinated because he was laughing too much. In the scuffle that followed, Sora somehow managed to get him on his back and saddled his legs. She smiled triumphantly down at her boyfriend and raised her weapon high above her head intending to smack him directly in the face. He tried to push her off him and when that didn't work, he half sat up and pulled her down so that he was able to press their lips together.

Sora had only a second to register what had happened. And when he started kissing her, there really wasn't anything left for her to do except to drop the cushion and kiss him back. She wrapped her arms around his neck and threaded her fingers through his hair.

Yamato growled – his way of letting her know that he didn't want her to mess up his hair like always but that he was going to let her anyway because he didn't want her to stop either. Sora giggled in response and he just yanked her closer without breaking contact.

Yamato pulled away from her much more quickly than she expected.

"You weren't thinking about that other guy just now were you?"

Sora smirked. "Maybe," she replied as she brushed the back of her fingers along his cheek.

Yamato tsked. "Well, I guess I'll just have to make you forget all about him then." He leaned forward and claimed her lips again.


	2. Likes

He loved how unusual and expressive her eyes were. He liked the way she bit her lip when she was deep in thought and the way her face lit up whenever she talked about something she really cared about. He liked that she fiddled with her sleeve (and sometimes the bottom of his shirt) when she was nervous or self-conscious. He liked watching her when she listened to people – the way she tilted her head as they spoke and how she looked at them if there was nothing more important than hearing them talk. He loved her compassion and the way she was ready to drop everything at a moment's notice whenever someone needed her. He liked how easily she was able to converse and sympathise with almost everyone, and that she made a huge amount of effort with the people who were most important to him.

He liked that she got along so well with his mother and that her presence made their conversations much less awkward. She had been the first one that he had relied on to look after Takeru all those years ago and he loved that her relationship with his brother was as strong as it was. It was important that his father liked her as much as he did.

He liked how ridiculously stubborn she was about the smallest things – like when she decided it was her turn to pay for dinner and her insistence that they always wash the dishes before she left his apartment. He liked the indignant almost-snort she made when Taichi really annoyed her right before launching into a seemingly endless tirade on how childish he was. He liked how thoroughly exasperated she became with them each time they did something incredibly stupid. He liked the way she sometimes resorted to throwing things at them – usually cushions and magazines or whatever was lying around – to get them to stop laughing at how seriously she took everything. He liked how she couldn't crack a joke to save her life. He especially enjoyed the few times that she decided that she had been responsible enough and actually goofed off with him and Taichi instead of trying to stop one of their ridiculous plans.

He liked that she had still kept the first rose he had awkwardly given her when he had forgotten about Valentine's Day. He liked that she hated taking solo pictures and usually pulled him into the frame with her. He liked how she mostly didn't care about her appearance and that she was perfectly content to spend their dates hanging out at his apartment and ordering pizza. He liked that she always laughed at the corniest commercials on TV and her appalling taste in films. He didn't think he had ever met anyone who became as completely engrossed in a movie as she did or was as moved by even the slightest bit of emotion on screen as she always was. He liked that she did her best to attend his concerts and how happy she was when he came to one of her matches. He liked teaching her how to play the guitar and the fact that she actually tried to find out more about the music he was into. He loved how easy it was to write lyrics about her and the silly smile she gave him when he told her his songs were for her.

He liked how self-conscious and flustered she became when he teased her. He liked that she snored sometimes which was something he found really cute and something she vehemently denied. He liked that, even after dating for almost a year, he could still make her blush if he stared at her for too long or when he asked for a second goodnight kiss. He liked how she sometimes touched his arm unconsciously when she was talking to him and how she'd decided that she wouldn't bother to ask him if he was uncomfortable anymore whenever she snuggled up to him on the couch. He liked the way she pressed her face against his chest whenever she was sleepy or wanted to be held.

He liked kissing her. He liked the way she played with the hair at the nape of his neck, how good she always smelt and how her hair tickled his face. He liked the way her lips felt on his and the strawberry chapstick she used. He liked her muffled giggle whenever he yanked her onto his lap and he loved it when she smiled against his lips. He liked how she trailed her fingers lightly down his chest and when she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He liked the little noises she made – the small moans and sighs, the breathy whispers of his name and smouldered laughter. And he loved watching her expression right after they pulled apart.

He liked how she always knew when he didn't want to talk and needed to be left alone. He liked how she never expected an explanation when he returned and that she went on as if nothing had happened. And he loved how ready she was to listen when he did decide to confide in her. He liked how just spending time with her could make him feel better without her having to actually do anything. He liked that she didn't demand anything from him although she always called him out whenever he was being unreasonable or particularly difficult. He liked how quickly she was willing to forgive him and that she always took responsibility for whatever was her fault.

He let her become the most important person in his life. And he loved that when he searched for her in a crowd, she was usually looking for him too.


	3. Math

**Age: 16 years ****old.**

_Boxes. Boxes._

_Boxes!_

_They were boxes, dammit!_

Yamato tried to focus on the question paper in front of him and forced himself not to think about boxers. Or Sora in boxers. Or Sora in any other kind of underwear. Or Sora in general.

He was sitting in Calculus 2 class, staring at the stupid exercise, trying to solve a ridiculous word problem about a man who'd decided to go out one fine day and buy himself 30 boxes of soap which wouldn't fit into the back of his truck. But the entire time, all he could think about was Sora stripping down to her underwear the night before, and the way it felt when she trailed her fingertips over his torso, and her bare skin pressed against his…

Yamato groaned and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to make his blush go away. _This was bad. Really, really bad._ He had never been this distracted in class before. He had a feeling that from now on all Math classes were going to be like this. Incidentally, it was the subject that both he and Sora were the worst at... which meant they sometimes did their homework together at his apartment... and usually Sora was really good at keeping them focused on the task at hand... although yesterday neither one of them was really up for studying... Yamato groaned again. If things were bad now, he had no idea what he was going to do during his second Math period of the day with Sora. He'd have to convince Taichi to trade places with him or something. There was no way he could survive sitting next to her for an entire hour, knowing that they'd both be thinking about the exact same thing.

"OMG! What is he doing?"

"He's blushing! He looks so cute!"

"We should take a picture!"

"Don't be ridiculous! Mr. Kobayashi will notice."

"But he's so adorable!"

"What do you think he's thinking about?"

"You mean _who_."

"Hmph. Yamato doesn't have a girlfriend!"

"There is that _Sora_ girl that he hangs out with an awful lot. Maybe –"

Yamato opened his eyes and glared at the group of girls on the table in front of him. They hurriedly turned away, giggling to themselves and hiding their faces in their books. One of them winked at him which made him flush even more.

"Ishida! Is there any particular reason why you have the entire female population of this class distracted?"

"Uhh…" Yamato looked up, not having realised that Mr. Kobayashi had made his way over as he was trying to control his flaming cheeks. "I wasn't –"

"Don't lie to me, son. Your face is as red as a baboon's behind."

The girls erupted into giggles, making Yamato turn even redder.

"But I wasn't –"

"That's three detentions for you! One for talking back. One for flirting in class. And one because I bloody well feel like it! You teenage hooligans think you waltz in here and make a mockery of my classroom! I won't tolerate any kind of inappropriate behaviour!"

"But, Sir –"

"And a three-thousand word essay on the similarity between humans and baboons. Maybe you'll learn a thing or two about yourself, boy."

Yamato was extremely grateful when Mr. Kobayashi was distracted by some commotion going on outside of the classroom. He buried his face in his hands in embarrassment, ignoring the snickers of those around him. The guys seemed especially pleased at his punishment. _It wasn't like he had actually been flirting with anyone!_

"I can help with the word problem, you know," one of the girls cooed at him. It was Winky.

"I… I think I'll manage," Yamato replied, trying to get back to work and attract as little attention to himself as possible.

"I'm sure I can make it much more interesting to work on."

Yamato gave her a wry smile. _The entire problem was that it was way too interesting to begin with._

* * *

**Author's Note:** Apologies for the lack of interaction between Sora and Yamato here (and in the previous update). But that's not the case in the next chapter!


	4. Realisation

**Author's Note:** This chapter took a ridiculously long time to write. And I obviously haven't gotten to the 'various' ages part yet...

* * *

**AGE: 16 years old.**

Yamato stretched out his legs in front of him and rubbed the back of his neck. They'd been watching this documentary for what seemed like forever. He yawned as the narrator continued to drone on about some war or the other and wondered for the hundredth time how Taichi had managed to convince both him and Sora that taking an elective history course was a good idea. _The idiot_.

For some unfathomable reason his best friend had suddenly become interested in politics and current events and his enthusiasm for both led him to the erroneous conclusion that taking courses to increase their general knowledge about the world and its history couldn't be anything but fun. The result was that they now had shitloads of homework every day, had to watch at least one documentary every weekend and were forced to prepare a huge list of discussion points before each class. It was only sheer willpower that had prevented Yamato from strangling Taichi every time he laid eyes on the brunet.

Next to him, Sora sighed as she flipped through her notebook and scribbled down a line here or there. Yamato had stopped pretending to care long ago.

"How much of this is left?"

Sora paused the video on her mother's laptop momentarily to check. "About twenty minutes."

"I don't think I remember a time when I wasn't sitting on this couch." He reached over to pick up another soda and slid down further in his seat.

"You haven't even been taking notes though," she replied, not bothering to stop the documentary again.

"I don't really see why I have to," Yamato said with a smirk. He hooked his finger under the cap of the soda can. "When I know that you– what the – !"

The shock of a sudden spray of freezing liquid hitting him made him sit bolt upright. His face and the front of his shirt were completely drenched. He frantically wiped off the soda that was dripping from his eyebrows and stinging his eyes.

Sora erupted into giggles beside him.

"Sora! Hand me a tissue!"

But Sora hugged her notes to her chest to keep them out of harm's way and kept on laughing.

"Shit, shit, shit." When he'd finally gotten the soda out of his eyes, Yamato glared at Sora which only made her giggle even more.

"Sorry," she said, not sounding sorry at all. She finally reached over for a tissue and held it out to him.

So, without warning, he lunged at her.

"What?!" she squeaked. Ducking under his arm, she slipped off the couch before he could grab her properly.

Yamato wasted no time at all going after her.

"You're dripping soda everywhere!" Sora laughed breathlessly. She continued to giggle madly as he chased her around the coffee table. Each time he thought he had her, she twisted out of reach at the last moment. Eventually, they were just running around the couch with Sora grinning triumphantly and Yamato panting. "You really need to work out more!"

"Oh yeah?"

In the end, he simply stepped over the couch and grabbed her from behind. Despite her wild thrashing, he managed to pin her arms to her sides and pushed her up against the wall effectively trapping her there with his body pressed against hers.

"Well, hey." He smirked down at her. There was no way that she was going to escape now.

"_Yamato_," she warned.

"Yes?" he said innocently as he slipped his fingers under her top.

"Yamato! Don't you dare!" she cried. She tried to push him away but he'd already started tickling her. "Mimi's shirt... she's going... to kill me..." she managed to force out between snorting, gasping for air and struggling not to get her own clothes soaked.

Yamato started laughing at her futile attempts to wriggle free. She was giggling uncontrollably now and her entire body was shaking with mirth. Her face was flushed and her eyes were sparkling. He couldn't help but think that she looked so pretty and incredibly happy.

_I love you._

The statement came rushing to his mind – forceful and direct – begging to be uttered. Yamato clamped his mouth shut, terrified that the words would just spill out. His eyes went as round as saucers and he simply froze.

"Yamato?"

_I don't love Sora._ _I can't **love** Sora_.

Sure, he _liked_ Sora a whole lot. She was his _girlfriend_. He'd had a crush on her forever and he definitely cared about her more than the others. She was smart and kind and fun, and he loved spending time with her.

_But I can't… I don't…_ _love_ _her_. Not yet. Not so soon! He was astonished that he had even thought that he could. He was crazy! They were only sixteen! They hadn't even been dating for that long! He couldn't start thinking things like that. Or worse, accidentally say it out loud! They'd only just gotten over the initial awkward phase of their relationship and were finally becoming completely comfortable around each other. This could ruin everything and they had been doing so well. Not to mention that Sora would completely freak out.

Yamato shook his head. He was just tired or something. _Yeah, that was it._ He was just worn out and emotional. He'd be fine tomorrow after a good night's sleep. And he was probably going to laugh at himself for being so stupid in the morning.

"Yamato?" Sora asked again. She was obviously wondering why he hadn't moved and was just gawking at her. She reached out to touch his cheek but he immediately pulled away.

"I should get this off my face," he said hurriedly and ducked into the kitchen in an attempt to hide how red he was. He grabbed a couple of tissues off the counter and tried to wipe the liquid off. His shirt was still wet and sticky, and he felt sort of gross now. "Do you have anything I can change into?" he asked when he thought he wasn't blushing so much any more.

"Yeah, sure." She led the way to her bedroom. He could tell that she was still thoroughly confused about his abrupt change in behaviour. "You okay?" she asked as she offered him one of his own t-shirts that she'd probably forgotten to return.

"Why wouldn't I be?" he answered almost too quickly. He peeled off his soaked shirt and dropped it in her laundry basket. If it had been any other day, he would have smirked at Sora's attempts at pretending that she wasn't staring at him. But he was too distracted to focus on anything other than the fact that he had momentarily lost his head.

He headed to the bathroom and proceeded to wash off as much of the soda as he could from his hair and neck. Then he splashed cold water on his face and told himself to calm the fuck down. This really wasn't a big deal. He'd just been taken by surprise by his own thoughts, that's all. But since they didn't actually mean anything and Sora was never _ever_ going to find out, it didn't matter. Taking a couple of deep breaths, he exited the washroom.

Sora was standing outside waiting for him. "Is everything all right?" she asked once again, her voice laced with concern and her eyebrows furrowed.

_Shit._ He couldn't do this. He couldn't handle _this_. The was a very distinct possibility that he was going to blurt out some sort of horrendous confession just to get her to stop looking at him the way she was. He had learnt over the years that at times like these he really couldn't trust himself to speak. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that anything he said now could only end in complete disaster.

Before she could press further, he turned around and walked out of the apartment without saying a word.

* * *

Yamato leaned back against the couch and groaned.

His head was hurting.

His thoughts didn't make any sense.

Everything was such a mess.

"Yamato, do you want cheese on your burger?"

All he could think about was the fact that he thought he was in love with Sora. He wasn't _actually_ in love with her. His mind just thought he was. His mind was crazy. His mind was insane. The stupid, idiotic thing always reached the most stupid, idiotic conclusions based on no semblance of rationality whatsoever.

"Yamato?"

_I should just ignore myself._

"Son?"

_Yeah, that's what I'm going to do from now on._

"Yamato?"

_And I will never speak of this again._

"Yamato!"

"I'm in love with Sora!" he blurted out.

Hiroaki actually laughed.

"How the hell is this funny?!"

"Of course, you're in love with her."

"What do you mean _of course I'm in love with her_?!"

Hiroaki seemed to find his incredulity quite amusing. "I suppose this is why you've been ignoring her for the past few days?"

"I haven't been ignoring her!"

"In all honesty, that's a pretty shitty thing to do even if you are freaked out by your own feelings."

"I'm not being shitty!"

"You don't need to repeat everything I say."

"I'm not repeating everything you say!" Yamato practically shrieked.

Hiroaki chuckled and held up one of his hands in mock surrender. "Okay, okay. But she's left a couple of messages on the answering machine that you haven't responded to, she hasn't been over for a while and it's been ages since you've walked around the house staring at your cell phone with that stupid smile plastered all over your face."

Yamato scowled. "I liked you better when you spent all your time at work."

Hiroaki grinned. "You should tell her."

"That is the dumbest piece of advice you have ever given me."

"Follow your heart, son."

Yamato rolled his eyes as his father started cracking up again. He walked over to the kitchen in a huff and grabbed the burger that was waiting for him.

Hiroaki tried his best to sober down. "But seriously though, what if she feels the same way?"

"She... doesn't," Yamato responded slowly. Now that he thought about it, in all the obsessing he had done over the last five days he hadn't once thought about how Sora might feel about him... because, well, he'd been too focused on trying to convince himself that he was absolutely _not_ in love with her. And that was why he didn't at all expect the tiny flurry of hope he felt in his chest at his father's words. "You think so?"

"I can tell," Hiroaki said.

Yamato raised an eyebrow. His dad sure was acting super cocky.

"Plus," Hiroaki went on casually. "Taichi might have mentioned that he overheard Mimi say–"

Yamato was out the front door even before he could hear the end of that sentence.

* * *

She didn't look surprised to see him nor did she seem particularly thrilled that he was standing there.

"Can I come in?" Yamato asked hesitantly.

"If you want." Sora pushed open the door a little wider and without waiting for him, she headed back to the lounge.

_Shit_. She wasn't mad at him. If she were angry, she would've just told him he was a complete idiot and demanded an explanation. The fact she hadn't meant that he had actually hurt her quite a bit – which wasn't at all surprising since he'd essentially avoided her for the better part of a week without providing any explanation whatsoever. He followed her into the main room, feeling guiltier and guiltier with each step he took.

"Want to watch a movie or something?" he asked when she made no attempt to start a conversation.

Sora shot him an incredulous look.

"Uhh..." His mind scrambled for something else to say. "What were you doing?"

"Homework." She gestured at the coffee table where a few notebooks were laid open indicating that she had indeed been doing her homework.

"Maybe I can help?" he offered.

"It's all the subjects you aren't very good at, Yamato."

_Oh._ "Maybe we could–"

Sora sighed. "When are you going to get to the part where you explain to me why you've been acting like such a jerk?"

He really, really wished that she'd yelled that at him. He could handle Sora being mad – not that he enjoyed it when she was, but it was definitely easier than dealing with the resigned voice that she was using now. She looked somewhat defeated instead of annoyed like he expected which only served to make him feel even worse than before. "I... have a really good reason for that."

"Which is?" She crossed her arms and regarded him coolly.

He looked around helplessly as if an answer that would satisfy her would suddenly appear out of thin air and save him. "Do you really not want to watch a movie?"

Sora's eyes flashed, and for a second, he was terrified that she was going to march over and strangle him. But she sighed again and sat down on the couch. Then she picked up one of her textbooks.

"Sora?" He made his way over and gingerly took a seat next to her.

At first, he thought she was ignoring him as she continued to stare blankly at the page in front of her.

"I bet it was a really stupid reason, wasn't it?" she said quietly after a few moments.

Yamato tried not to be completely offended. _Yes... no... maybe... no. _"No."

"Tell me what this was about then."

He thought back to the last few days and all the sleepless nights he'd had as he tried to come to terms with the fact that he was feeling something that he really wasn't prepared for yet. Eventually, he just decided to tell her the truth._ "_I don't have the words to explain what happened."

"Try."

"I... you... we... I... just don't have the words to explain what happened."

"Well, that certainly clears up everything."

Yamato had two sudden realisations. Firstly, that he really couldn't tell her how he felt now because she was just going to think that he was saying it to get her to stop being angry at him. And he didn't want that at all. Secondly, for the Bearer of Love, Sora could be really freaking clueless sometimes.

"Sora..."

"How do you think this makes me feel, Yamato? You're fine one minute and then you completely freak out on me the next. I don't know what you're thinking, I don't know what you want and I have no idea how you're going to react to anything! You're so moody, and it's just–"

"Sora." He tried to interrupt her but she seemed to be in full lecture mode now.

"– It's so _frustrating_. And then you come back and act like nothing has happened, as if we can just pick up from where we left off."

"Sora..."

"Why can't you just tell me what happened?" she demanded. For the first time, he realised that the anger was still there, she'd just managed to hide it exceptionally well.

"I... can't." Yamato almost cringed at how inadequate his explanation was.

"Really? Because you have no problem at all coming up with words for your songs."

"Sora, that's not even–"

"So you can talk to everyone in the crowd during one of your concerts but you can't talk to me?"

Yamato almost laughed at how stupid her last question was. "That's completely different," he said, a lot more irritation seeping into his voice than he intended.

"I don't see how. You don't even _try_–"

"Sora–" He was increasingly becoming exasperated at how much she was interrupting him.

"– and I _know_ that you usually don't like opening up–"

"Sora..." He had no clue what exactly he was going to say when she finally did let him talk, but it really would be nice if she would let him get in a word–

"– but would it _really_ be so terrible for you to maybe–"

"– can you just–"

"– consider the fact that–"

"– stop being so–"

"– you're not the only person–"

"SOMETIMES YOU REALISE SOMETHING AND IT'S REALLY HARD TO TELL PEOPLE HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT THEM," Yamato yelled at her.

He watched the emotions flicker over her face. She seemed shocked at first that he was shouting, then her expression changed to confusion and finally a strange sort of understanding settled over her features. A second later, she completely took him by surprise by wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face in his chest. "You're such an idiot," she murmured.

Yamato blinked.

"You are."

"Uhh... sorry?"

"You should be."

"I am." He put his arms around her hesitantly, wondering if he was really going to be forgiven just like that or if this was a whole new unprecedented level of infuriation that he had yet to understand. This was the shortest blowup he'd ever had with anyone. He'd been expecting her to–

"Yamato, stop it," Sora said gently.

"Stop what?" He honestly didn't think he had been doing anything.

She peered up at him. "Thinking so much, second guessing everything, acting like the world will collapse if you tell someone what you're really thinking."

Yamato stared at her. He couldn't figure out if she understood him completely or didn't understand him at all, and he honestly had no idea which terrified him more. She seemed to be looking at him expectantly now. _Was she waiting for an explanation? Acknowledgement that she was right? An apology? _Yamato found himself at a complete loss for what to do.

When he failed to respond, Sora's eyes softened even more. She placed a hand on his thigh as she reached up to give him the barest of kisses on his cheek.

He wanted to ask what the hell was going on, but Sora seemed to have lost interest in their conversation altogether. She reached for the huge textbook she had been reading and dumped it onto his lap.

Yamato glanced at it. _Physics? He was freaking amazing at physics. _"What happened to 'it's all the subjects you aren't very good at, Yamato'?"

She smiled at his imitation as she rested her head on his shoulder. "Well, I guess I _am_ taking up your offer to help me with my homework."

Yamato rolled his eyes. But for the most part, he was just glad that things seemed to have gone back to normal. He decided not to dwell on _how_ or _what_ exactly he had done to fix everything since he didn't think he would ever be able to figure that out at all. "What part do you need help with?"

Sora grinned. "All of it."

* * *

"Sora," he said, reaching out for her wrist to stop her from going up.

She was two steps above him so they were almost eye level with each other. "Yes?"

_I love you._

"Uh... I... umm... thanks for letting me in."

Sora looked amused. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said before giving him a small wave and turning to leave again.

"Sora, wait," Yamato called her back. He cleared his throat nervously. "I..."

She took a step down and reached out to touch his cheek. "What is it?"

_I love you_.

"I didn't get a goodnight kiss," he said finally.

Sora gave a soft laugh. She quickly looked behind her to make sure no-one was around and then gave him a tiny, chaste, unsatisfying peck on the lips which only made him wish that he'd said goodbye to her inside instead of on the stairs.

When she pulled back though, her expression had softened again and she looked up at him with her gorgeous, imploring eyes. And it was then that Yamato decided that he didn't care about the consequences, he was going to tell her how he felt because he wanted her to know more than anything else.

So he took her hand and pulled her towards him. "You know that I... err... I..."

The only problem seemed to be actually getting the words out.

"You?"

"I..."

"... can be a complete dumbass sometimes? Need to be handled with care? Should come with an instruction manual?" she offered helpfully.

Yamato smiled at her sheepishly but shook his head anyway.

"Really? None of those things?" Sora teased.

"No."

"Because I could have sworn that _just_ now–"

"Sora."

She laughed at him then. Yamato rolled his eyes and let her because he probably deserved it.

Then he tried again. "I think that I–"

She put a finger on his lips. "I know what you're going to say."

Yamato swallowed heavily. "You... do?"

"Yeah, and it's easy," she said with complete seriousness. "Just repeat after me. Sora Takenouchi, you're smart and you're amazing and I'm crazy about you."

Relief flooded Yamato when he realised that she was joking and hadn't figured out anything at all. He couldn't help but laugh at the cheeky grin she was giving him. A smile tugged the corner of his lips as he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her, for once not caring at all if someone might be watching. "I'm crazy about you," he repeated. He supposed he could be content with that admission for now until he found a way to tell her just how much she meant to him properly.

"Good. Because..." She took a deep breath and an adorable blush crept over her cheeks. "Because I'm falling in love with you."

* * *

**Author's Note:** I hope you guys liked this!

Credit to Ladybug for the title suggestion for this story.

Thank you to all the guest reviewers! And a special thank you to Allynca, Videogamenerd10 and Jippy. Your feedback is always incredibly useful and I really appreciate you guys taking out the time to share your comments :)


End file.
